The residents of Mpumalanga’s Ehlanzeni District Municipality have told the Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources and Energy that the reforms proposed in the Electricity Amendment Regulation Amendment Bill could be implemented without opening the market to private companies to participate in electricity generation.
This was one of the submissions made during public hearings conducted by the committee at KaMaqhekeza Community Hall in Nkomazi yesterday.
The residents said while they welcomed the Bill’s objectives of ensuring additional power generation in the country, this should be done by the current state power supplier, Eskom, and not the private sector or any independent power producers.
They argued that private companies and independent power producers would be run by the people who contributed to Eskom’s collapse, with no interest of helping the country resolve the electricity crisis but instead are only interested in making profits.Another fear raised during the public hearings was that small
businesses will not have an opportunity to participate in the new reforms but only the rich and politically connected.
There was also a submission to reject any proposals to give additional powers to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) with allegations that the entity was colluding with Eskom on electricity prices.
Committee Chairperson Mr Sahlulele Luzipo dismissed claims by some members of the public that the public hearings were a campaign for next year’s general elections.
‘We are here to seek your opinion on the proposed amendments to the legislation. We are not campaigning,and we hope by the time we finish consultations in all the provinces we will know better what is to be done moving forward on the Bill,’ said the Chairperson.
The Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill aims to effect amendments to the Act in order to improve the administration of the Act; to provide for additional electricity,new generation capacity and electricity infrastructure; and to provide for the establishm
ent, duties, powers and functions of the Transmission System Operator SOC Ltd.
It will also provide for an open market platform that will allow for competitive electricity trading; and to assign the duties, powers and functions of the Transmission System Operator to the National Transmission Company South Africa SOC Ltd.
Today the committee continues with public hearings on the Bill in the Gert Sibande District Municipality’s Mayor’s Parlour in Ermelo starting at 10H00.
Source: Parliament of South Africa